Sri Lanka records over 9,000 tourist arrivals in first quarter this year
Sri Lanka’s tourism sector has reportedly witnessed 4,581 tourist arrivals in March increasing the number of tourist arrivals to the country in the first quarter to 9,629.
According to reports, tourist arrivals in March have been higher in comparison to 3,366 in February and 1,682 in January after the country’s borders were re-opened on 21 January to resume international tourism after the global Covid 19 pandemic restricted travel worldwide.
In March the largest source markets were Kazakhstan (1,514), followed by Germany (502), and the UK (316), Ukraine (287) and China (223) and Russia (197), the Daily FT has reported.
Kazakhstan has also led arrivals in the first quarter with 2,746 thanks to the commencement of regular flights by its national carrier. Ukraine with 2,592 arrivals was the second biggest market while traditional markets like Germany was number three with 766 arrivals and UK fourth with 398 arrivals. China was ranked fifth with 367 arrivals and high potential Russia was sixth with 336 arrivals.
In the first quarter of 2020 or pre-COVID, Sri Lanka received 507,704 tourists. In March 2020 there were 71,370 tourists with the arrivals decreasing as a result of the emergence of COVID-19 pandemic globally. January and February last year saw over 200,000 tourists arriving per month.
Tourism industry leaders are hopeful of higher arrivals from May or June onwards with tourist-friendly health and safety guidelines in place, the local media report further stated.
OSL take:
Sri Lanka’s tourism industry was one of the fastest growing economic sectors in the country when the global Covid 19 pandemic restricted worldwide travel. However, since Sri Lanka reopened its borders in January this year, the country’s tourism industry is once again on the path to returning to normalcy. The gradual increase in tourist arrivals to the country as well as the increase in the number of flights operated by the international airlines is indicative of the positive path Sri Lanka’s tourism industry is back on track. Sri Lanka’s tourism authorities have also planned a global tourism promotions campaign to futher boost the country’s tourism industry. All this have opened up business/investment opportunities in Sri Lanka’s tourism industry.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/20210408//Z_1 |